Villar: Concert in MOA not meant to match LP's rally

A rock concert at the concert grounds of a Pasay City mall featured presidential aspirant Sen. Manny Villar Jr. (Nacionalista Party), but only as an audience. Villar denied that the “Rockatropa" concert held at the SM Mall of Asia concert grounds was meant to compete with the rally of Liberal Party in Quezon City to celebrate the 24th anniversary of the historic EDSA People Power in 1986. “Hindi naman . . . walang kinalaman sa EDSA ito. Matagal nang na-postpone ito, tinuloy lang namin (This has nothing to do with EDSA. This was something that got postponed before)," Villar told reporters in an interview. The concert was initially scheduled October 26 last year but was canceled due to typhoon Ondoy, which devastated Metro Manila and killed hundreds of people.

Unlike his rival Sen. Benigno “Noynoy" Aquino III, who took the stage in the Quezon City rally, Villar remained with the audience during the whole show. “Alam mo pag-concert parang ayaw naman nila na parang pulitika kaya OK lang ako na manood (Concert is not a venue for politics, so I rather be a part of the audience)," he said. Present at the concert were NP senatorial candidates Adel Tamano, Gilbert Remulla, Sen. Pilar Juliana Cayetano, and Martin Querubin, who represented his detained father Col. Ariel Querubin. Also in attendance were Villar’s children Camille, who organized the concert; Paulo, and Mark. Organizers pegged the crowd at 120,000 to 130,000 while the police placed it at 70,000 to 80,000. The concert was hosted by radio jocks Nicoleyala and Cris Tsuper; singer Randy Santiago; actor John Estrada; and TV host Valerie Concepcion. Among those who performed were Willie Revillame, Sarah Geronimo, Christine Reyes, Andrew E and Blakdyak. Parokya ni Edgar, Sandwich, Kamikazee, Bamboo and the Juan de la Cruz Band also performed. - Amita Legaspi/KBK, GMANews.TV